Marina Spironetti has made her home in Italy’s second city and reveals her insider secrets to help you make the most of a weekend visit When I made the well-thought out decision of moving back to Milan after 12 years living between London and Paris, a dear friend gave me a guidebook as a present. […]
In 1659, the Medici family, now well and truly the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, sold their 1400s Renaissance home in Florence, where they had lived when they were bankers and the unofficial rulers of the Florentine Republic, to the Riccardi family. Understandably, the new owners immediately renovated. Possibly their most spectacular addition to the palazzo […]
Some 20km around and up to 2km deep in places, the Sacca di Scardovari is one of the wildest areas in the Po Delta and is home to the rare spring snowflake (Leucojum Vernum) flower. You will also see herons, and long-legged buzzards in the cooler months. The Sacca di Scardovari is also well known […]
As she heads to Tuscany to learn about the traditional olive harvest, Rachel Beckwith uncovers the simple pleasures of rural Italian life and, once she gets a taste for it, is fully converted… I arrived at La Vialla in October, the Tuscan sun a little shy behind the clouds, ready and willing to help with […]
Stuart Haines has long had a passion for exploring the Italian countryside on foot, and has written the Cicerone guidebook Walking in Abruzzo to share his experiences… What was your first experience of Italy? It was as a geology student, searching the Alps above Domodossola for the elusive and beautiful mineral, kyanite. It was September […]
The Amalfi coast is an array of colour as the first sign of autumn reaches Italy… The first signs of autumn arrive quietly on the Amalfi Coast. I try to hold onto the last warmth of the summer days, which seemed as if they would never come to an end. Yet, the evenings are already […]
Italy?s economy relies on a successful tourism industry, but here Mario Matassa looks at what visitors find most infuriating? such as unreliable transport, busy streets and high hotel prices… Il turista felice Nonostante i tempi duri, quasi 31 milioni di turisti internazionali hanno visitato l?Italia nel 2011, con un incremento del 16,6% rispetto al 2010. […]
Liz Harper gets the balance just right on a family holiday in Florence, as her young daughter Molly enjoys a uniquely educational treasure hunt? Taking a bite of the pizza she?d just created with the help of our hotel?s executive chef, my daughter Molly proclaimed it fantastico. No further words left her mouth until her […]
Hannah Bellis visits the home of Prosciutto di San Daniele for sensational alpine scenery, wonderful local bars and the melt in the mouth ham that Italians want to keep to themselves… What?s the best reason to visit a place? Every region of Italy has something to recommend itself. Visitors are drawn by the culture, the […]
Marina Spironetti goes in search of the perfect landscape view in the popular Tuscan city of Lucca… When I first went to Lucca I left with a feeling of pleasing quietness. The crowds that cram into nearby Pisa seemed to spare this gem of a city, apart from a small number of discreet visitors who […]